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“I was thinking she needed more control over her life. You saw her—she was feeling powerless and scared. I reminded her that she could take back some of the power, that’s all.”
“You made her angry.”
“Yeah, I made her angry. Better angry than crying.”
“She wasn’t crying. I have never seen my sister cry, not even when she was going through all that trauma when she was ill. Not once.”
Jake, who had trained himself to spot female tears at a thousand paces, wondered how Matt could be so clueless. “She was on the verge of losing it. And if she had, she would have been mortified. She was already feeling bad. She didn’t need to feel worse. What she needed was to be galvanized into action, and there is no better motivator than anger. You should be thanking me.”
“You made her angry on purpose?” Matt ran his hand over his jaw and swore softly. “I didn’t see that. How come you know so much about women?”
“Extensive experience along with an extraordinary gift for driving women crazy.” His phone rang and he silenced it with a stab of his finger.
Matt eyed the number on Jake’s screen. “Brad Hetherington? You really are moving in illustrious circles. You need oxygen up there?”
“No, I need shovels to dig my way out of the bullshit.”
“You’re not taking his call?”
“I would, but you’re sitting in my office. And sometimes it pays to be a bit elusive. I have something he wants. Make him wait and he’ll pay more.”
Matt shook his head. “How does it feel to have everyone queuing up at your door?”
“It feels busy.” Jake leaned back in his chair, looking at the man he regarded as a brother. “So did you just come here to punch me for making your sister angry or was there something else?”
“Something else. I want you to help her with her new business.”
Jake stilled. Caution seeped into every bone of his body. “Why would I do that?”
“Because you were the one who pushed her into it. You owe it to her not to let her fail.”
“What makes you think she’ll fail?”
“The fact that she equates asking for help with weakness. We both know that running a business is a steep learning curve. The more you ask, the faster you learn. My sister has turned independence into an art form. She is never going to ask. So you have to offer.”
No way.
Jake tapped the desk with his fingers. Nudging her in the right direction was one thing; getting personally involved was another. “She won’t want my help. You heard her last night.”
And he knew it wasn’t simply a need to be independent that would prevent Paige from asking him for help.
Neither of them mentioned it but the past simmered in the background, coloring every interaction.
She guarded herself around him and that suited him just fine.
“I don’t know anything about running a concierge service or events management.”
“You should. You attend enough events.”
“To network, get drunk or get laid. Sometimes all three. I don’t plan them.” It was like standing on the edge of quicksand knowing that if you stepped in the wrong place you were going to be sucked in too deep to escape. “You have as much business experience as I do. You help her.”
“She thinks I’m overprotective, and she’s right. I try not to be, but I get it wrong. Every damn time. Remember when she was learning to drive?” He saw Jake wince and nodded. “Yeah, that time. I’m too worried about her to be objective.” Matt stood up and walked to the window. “Great view,” he said absently.
“I’m usually too busy to look at it.”
His friend didn’t take the hint. “To me she’s still that little girl with a heart problem. I can still see her in the hospital, blue lips, struggling to breathe.”
“If you’re going for emotional blackmail, don’t. It’s not going to work.”
